This guy bought a cam sensor (ERR6170) from my eBay Store. He had it a week and contacted me saying "he made a mistake" and would like to return the part. As a Top Rated Seller I am obligated to accept returns and did so. When the part arrived from Adam Smith it was not the part that had been shipped to him. The part, which was the actual part pictured in the eBay listing was ERR6170. He returned NSC100840. NOT THE PART I SENT HIM.

Clearly, he installed the part I sent him and he returned the bad part he removed from his truck.

After spending close to an hour on the phone with a variety of eBay reps I finally got someone who appreciated what had happened and said she would make sure I would not have to refund the buyer anything. She closed the case.

I got an email from eBay a short while later telling me that while they found in my favor and I was not going to be responsible for refunding the buyer who returned a different part than I sent him, eBay was still going to fully refund him his purchase price.

So, the guy gets a working cam sensor, installs it, ships back the bad one, demands a refund, is shown to have returned a part different than the one that was shipped to him and yet, eBay refunds him fully. How screwed up is that. It encourages scammers and cheats, rewarding the worst conduct while doing little to protect a seller on eBay who has been selling on the site for over 17 years.

THIS IS AN ALERT TO ANYONE SELLING ON EBAY. LOOK OUT FOR ADAM SMITH OF DANA PARK CA. HIS EBAY USER NAME IS sml5248. HE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

eBay is shitty like that. I got scammed by a Canadian, similar circumstances, but eBay refunded him, billed me for the refund, and told him he didn't have to return anything. I've heard several stories like this about eBay caving in to the buyer even if it's an obvious scam so I'm done with them.

This is what eBay said in the email I received about an hour after getting off the phone with one of their representatives.

"The item has been delivered to you. eBay has refunded the buyer.

We want to correct this situation for you. As a one-time courtesy, eBay is funding a refund to the buyer because the item wasn't returned in the original condition. You don't need to do anything else. Because we decided in your favor, this case, any feedback left, and all detailed seller ratings left, will not affect your seller performance. In addition, any feedback left for this transaction will be removed. Note that it may take up to 24 hours for these updates to reflect in your Seller Dashboard."

So, the only reasons why I didn't have to fork over money to Adam Smith, Blue Lantern St, Dana Park, CA was because I took the time to protest, could provide incontrovertible evidence and (most importantly) I have a sterling record on eBay as a seller. For someone too busy to call or who didn't have the record I have the results would have been different and this creep would have picked their pocket.

I went through a similar ordeal with Paypal recently. Someone bought a brand new external hard drive from me, paid immediately, received the item a few days later, end of story. Or not.

About 6 months later, he disputed the transaction with his credit card, claiming unauthorized use. Paypal immediately removed the money from my account, along with a ~$5 transaction fee and a ~$20 chargeback fee. After many calls, they told me that they were waiting for the guy's CC company to make a decision on the case. By that time, the tracking info on the shipment had expired, even though I provided an archived screenshot of the delivery comfirmation. The CC company naturally decided in his favor - why wouldn't they help their customer and screw someone else?

Long story short, I have no merchandise, no money, and paid service fees to Paypal for the pleasure of getting fucked. Paypal now says that the case is closed, and there's nothing further they can do.

Am I going to swear off Paypal and eBay? No way. Unfortunately, that's part of doing business through eBay. The best you can do is what Paul has done here and warn others in hopes that they don't fall into the same trap with the same scammers.

He will get tossed out eventually if he does this over and over. It could be an honest mistake on his part as his truck probably still does not run as the sensor didn't fix his issue. Bet he is about to burn his Rover.

My best score as a seller on ebay was a brand new BMW master cylinder that was sent to the UK. Listed as left hand drive with position on left side. Didn't fit the right hand drive BMW that the buyer had. Ebay held my funds while the buyer sent it back. I escalated the crap out of this. Dealing with both US & UK Ebay. Part arrived back to me and ebay sided the case in my favor and released the funds. Win Win

I had a customer send back a shot, dirty and useless used motor in pieces when he purchased a rebuild on eBay. I spent just about as much time fighting the case as I did on the rebuild. It happens from time to time.... For every scammer there are thousands of great buyers.

It could be an honest mistake on his part as his truck probably still does not run as the sensor didn't fix his issue. Bet he is about to burn his Rover.

I would have thought, had it been an honest mistake, that he would have responded to my email. I asked him if he might have made a mistake and sent back the wrong part. I never heard from him. He knew what he did.

My biggest issue is not the money but the fact that eBay rewarded criminal behavior when they refunded his money. I've been selling on eBay since 1999 and can count on one hand how many times I've encountered a thief like this. That pales in comparison to the almost 20K transactions I've conducted but it still amazes me, the audacity of this jackass, Adam Smith, 33641 Blue Lantern St. Apt. B, Dana Point, CA 92629-3741.

I would have thought, had it been an honest mistake, that he would have responded to my email. I asked him if he might have made a mistake and sent back the wrong part. I never heard from him. He knew what he did.

My biggest issue is not the money but the fact that eBay rewarded criminal behavior when they refunded his money. I've been selling on eBay since 1999 and can count on one hand how many times I've encountered a thief like this. That pales in comparison to the almost 20K transactions I've conducted but it still amazes me, the audacity of this jackass, Adam Smith, 33641 Blue Lantern St. Apt. B, Dana Point, CA 92629-3741.

A friend of mine flips items on ebay and gets fucked like this about once a month. It's the price of doing business on ebay; which sucks.

If he gets fucked like this once a month, I don't think the problem is with eBay. This is not a regular occurrence but it is a policy that eBay abides by. Fortunately, because of my history on eBay and my persistence, eBay didn't force me to pay this crook.

Is eBay perfect, hardly. Nevertheless, without the enormity of a selling platform like the one they provide, I doubt I'd have developed anywhere near the number of regular customer the world over. You take the good with the bad BUT when someone tries to screw you in such an egregious fashion, you do your best to fight back.

The nice thing about threads like this and the ones I started on a couple of other forums is that when you google this guy's name and address (who is a realtor, BTW) the first thing that comes up is this thread posted on Land Rover Forums.

eBay is shitty like that. I got scammed by a Canadian, similar circumstances, but eBay refunded him, billed me for the refund, and told him he didn't have to return anything. I've heard several stories like this about eBay caving in to the buyer even if it's an obvious scam so I'm done with them.

Most of the problems I've had in e-commerce have come from Canadians. Since I cut those ass-hats off, it's been smooth sailing all the way. Lots of snotty little pricks up there, and a fair amount of scamming jerks. Only about a quarter of my transactions with those damned people went smoothly.

Most of the problems I've had in e-commerce have come from Canadians. Since I cut those ass-hats off, it's been smooth sailing all the way. Lots of snotty little pricks up there, and a fair amount of scamming jerks. Only about a quarter of my transactions with those damned people went smoothly.